Ninety-Nine and Counting

Image courtesy of Google

Today is my ninety-ninth post! 

That’s almost two years of blogging. Wow! It’s quite a challenge coming up with an idea each week. When I first started blogging, I thought I would gradually work my way up to two posts a week; one on Wednesday and one on Friday, but I find that a once a week post is challenging enough for me. I don’t know how some bloggers handle three or four posts, or more, per week. Perhaps it’s the only writing they do.

Each of my blog posts takes several hours to create. After I get an idea, it typically takes me an hour or so to get the ideas organized on paper. I do a lot of re-reading to try to make my work as clear and as mistake free as I can. Sometimes my brain goes faster than my hands, or I read what I WANT it to say, not what I’ve actually typed!

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 After that, I spend (probably definitely too much) time finding images to go with my text. Then, I get everything formatted on the blog page so that I’ve created some white space between paragraphs and added images to go with most of them. 

Finally, I create hyper-links if I want readers to look at something else on-line.  I also create labels that allow readers to click to blog posts having particular key words in them- like: Writing a Novel. (If the words are a different color than the rest of the text, you can click on it!)

Three hours or so later, I can look at a preview of my post before I schedule it to appear at 4:00 AM, Pacific Daylight Time, on my BlogSpot page.

This is the book I need!
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So, what’s in the future for this blog? Can I maintain another hundred posts? Well, I hope so. This blog is part of me “building my platform.”  Writers need that. We can’t live in a vacuum.  I’ve been doing some marketing research and I’ve learned enough to know that I don’t know much at all. (Is that a song???)

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My goal for this blog is to continue to talk about books, and life, and writing. With the writing in particular, I hope to share my process for self-publishing. I hope to self-publish THE INK OF TIME by August, 2017. (Just typing that makes my stomach do flip-flops!)

I will chronicle the steps I take in this process. Right now, I’m at the sort-of rewriting/revising stage of this novel. I thought it was done. I sent it out into the publishing world. I found out, it was not ready. With the help of Story Genius, By Lisa Cron, my novel goes much deeper than what I’d previously put on the page. I’ve already written some very interesting scenes that I’ll be adding in.

Here’s a sneak peek:

Courtesy of Google Images

My eighteenth birthday came and went. Polly was the only one to wish me a happy birthday. She’d bought a Bear Claw at the gas station on the corner and we split it. Crazy Polly even lit a match and stuck it in the donut and made me blow out the flame, like a real birthday candle she said.

Polly and I were sitting on the front stoop of our apartment building a couple days later. Quinn, without actually having any chalk to draw a real one, jumped in a hop-scotch pattern up the sidewalk and then picked up the little rock she’d tossed and continued to jump.

 “Otto, I’ve got a secret. It’s a bad one,” Polly said.

“How bad?” I asked.

“Bad.”

“What did you do this time, Polly?”

“I went to the free clinic.” I stared at her, afraid to ask and maybe not wanting to know, but she blurted it out anyway. “Otto, I’m gonna have a baby, look!” My sister pulled her sweatshirt tight against her belly. It looked like she’d stuffed Quinnie’s favorite cereal bowl under her shirt...

Believe it or not, Otto’s life gets even more messed up from this point on. I knew Otto had siblings, but until I wrote this scene, I didn’t know they were younger sisters named Polly and Quinn.

Here’s my thing: It’s exciting to create. It’s very scary to share.

Do you have an exciting/ scary “thing,” too? I think maybe we all do at some point in our story, don’t you?

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God gives us each our unique “things” to make us braver, stronger, and more humble.

Take a minute to think about yours (maybe now or in the past..).

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

Wastin' all of my Time...

We’re off to a new year. 2017. Wow!

Making the best of the New Year is a common theme for most of us right now.  Setting personal and work goals, getting rid of bad habits, uncluttering, and living simply are typically part of the agenda.

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For me, procrastination and unfocused time use is a bad habit that I need to take a good long look at.  In my mind, I have particular things that I NEED to do on a daily basis. 

They are:

1.    Spiritual reading, meditation and prayer 

2.    Exercise

3.    Housework/Errands

4.    Writing (It has to be done like a job if I want to get anywhere with this thing!)

5.    Reading (Yes it is a Need!)

6.    Family time/ meals

7.    Part-time job at library

You know what gets left out most? Numbers one and two.(TSK!)  

Number three and five get the most attention. (And my house isn’t even that clean!) 

Numbers four and six are lacking my time more often that I’d like to admit. 

Number seven I’m nailing! (I’ve always been a good employee—I’ve got my parents’ expectations growing up to thank for that.)

Courtesy of Google Images

I need to take an honest look at my day and create a plan where all of these things can be attained. Saying that I’m going to do them all daily from now on would be a plan for failure. I need to be realistic. Maybe get number one and two accomplished three times a week would be a better plan for success???? That’s where I’ll start. When I’m successful with that, I can add more to it.

Really, I have to stop and think about how I want to spend my day. I am aware of some of my time wasters. I need to be in tune with my day and make productive choices!

How are you doing with setting goals and changing habits? It’s hard, isn’t it?!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Reflections

This time of year is pretty amazing.  After the hustle-bustle of Christmas, now is the time to slow down and reflect on the past year.  Every year I make a double-list entry in my journal.  On the left side I list the “Good” and on the right side I list the “Bad” of my year.

Rarely do I list world or political events, but rather the events in my own life that make me think about what was good, so that I can remember to have gratitude, and what was bad, so that I can fix, remember, honor or cope/grieve.

I won’t be making my lists on the blog post, however.  The Bad is just too personal- even though I try to put myself out there-  I just can't. And listing only the Good would sound like a goopy Christmas letter. So.

What I want to say here today is that we all have some really  Good and some really Bad and a lot of in between in our lives.  That’s life, right?  But what is most important, what makes all the difference, is how you handle yourself- your issues, your failures, your accomplishments, and your graces. That’s the reason I make my list (and why I write in a journal); it helps me look at everything that life brings- it helps me deal.

Here are a few of my journals.

I like to find meaningful quotes

and write them down.

      "life is change.

      growth is optional.

      choose wisely."

Along with my Good and Bad list, I always create a Goals for the New Year list.  I think it’s important to think critically, yet optimistically.   There’s a saying: ‘life is what happens while you’re making plans’—and that’s true, but make plans anyway.  Life will still happen, but with some plans in place, things will go better.  A couple of my goals for this year are to plant a garden (not new) and to harvest and preserve as much as I can from that garden(new).  I also want to eat right and be strong and healthy (not new).  Some of my goals repeat every year, while some are new goals.

I have found that listing goals and dreams and ideas help them to come true.  Give it a try today.  Write down some attainable goals—maybe even write a plan of how to achieve them- and give it a whorl!!  

Here’s to a peaceful, productive 2016.

As always, be good to yourself.

Nadine